


The Difficulties of the Watched

by Merfilly



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Cultural Differences, Femslash, Male Slash, Multi, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-12
Updated: 2013-02-12
Packaged: 2017-11-29 00:45:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/680756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Nyssa and Tegan ask a question, and what ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Difficulties of the Watched

**Author's Note:**

  * For [merryghoul](https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryghoul/gifts).



"Doctor, can you settle something for us?" Nyssa asked, even as Tegan tried desperately to shush her, eventually turning full body away with her knuckles in her teeth. 

"What is it, Nyssa?" the Doctor asked, not even bothering to look away from the under console he was working on.

"Don't ask," Tegan tried to urge one more time, low and intent, but Nyssa pressed on.

"Does the TARDIS notice things happening within it?"

This made the Doctor pause in his work, and then he slipped free of the console board to sit up brightly. "Oh yes, she does. Rather curious girl, she is," the Doctor assured them, failing to notice that Tegan was turning bright red at that answer.

Nyssa turned to look at her friend, hand coming up to cover her smile and laugh. "Thank you, Doctor."

"Of course... err, why?"

"No reason!" Tegan squeaked out, grabbing at Nyssa's arm and dragging her out of the control room.

* * *

"Turlough, why would the girls be concerned that the TARDIS notices activity within her?" the Doctor asked as he tossed an apple from hand to hand, watching it rather than the man across the room. 

Turlough's sip of his drink wound up choking him as he confused which pipe was used for which function.

"Are you alright, Turlough? You really should not inhale liquids." The Doctor caught the apple and took a hearty bite.

"I don't think you ought to press too hard on why Tegan and Nyssa are thinking about what the TARDIS sees," Turlough advised once he had his breath back.

"Why not?"

Turlough shook his head with a wicked little smile. "I don't think you can handle it."

The Doctor looked puzzled by that, then took another bite of his apple while he considered that, and Turlough walked out, smiling.

* * *

"I can't." 

"Tegan!"

Nyssa couldn't help but start laughing as Tegan wrapped her robe back around herself.

"Oh you stop!" Tegan picked up the pillow and threw it at Nyssa. "I just can't even think about it. Bad enough the TARDIS is in our heads, translating for us, but to know it... she... pays attention to us when we're... we're..."

"Making love?" Nyssa provided for her. "Tegan, the TARDIS sits in more than one dimension, more than one time even. The way she thinks about things is not remotely like you or I or even the Doctor thinks!"

Tegan bit at her lip, then looked at Nyssa shyly. "I'm being a prude." 

"Maybe a little." Nyssa reached for her hands, catching them and pulling Tegan closer. "Now, I think we were a little involved..." she added, leaning in to kiss Tegan thoroughly. As they did, the lights in their room dimmed as if in response.

The girls broke apart, staring up at the ceiling and then the walls, before they turned to each other.

"That's just too much!" Tegan protested.

"I'm not sure you're wrong this time," Nyssa agreed, pulling her own robe up around her shoulders. She sat back on the bed, then looked at her friend. "What do we do about it though? This is our home."

"Only because we can't find our..." Tegan stopped in the middle of her words and reached out, drawing Nyssa in. "I told you I would always share my home with you," she said softly. 

"I like it here, Tegan. If you ever get home I will be happy for you, but... I will know my place when it comes," Nyssa said, cuddling with her. "Don't think you need to be sad for me, or make a place in your life for me."

"Then maybe I'll just have to hope the Doctor keeps having trouble finding my home," Tegan said softly before kissing Nyssa tenderly. It was the beginning of more, as they got lost in each other.

They didn't mind when the TARDIS took the lights down lower for them.

* * *

The Doctor walked into the arboretum to clear his mind, to breathe in the air that had been processed by plants rather than just filtered through the TARDIS's environmental systems. What he did not expect to find was Nyssa sitting on a bench next to Tegan, their heads close enough to...

"You're kissing her," he said in some surprise, which led to the two bouncing apart, and Tegan reaching up to straighten her hair.

"Yes, that is what I was doing," Nyssa informed him, regaining her composure swiftly.

"That's why you asked? You thought my old girl was being a peeping Tom... or whatever the gender appropriate word would be?" he asked, confused all over again.

"Well..." Tegan blushed, almost the color of the apple he had eaten for breakfast.

"Yes." Nyssa boldly took Tegan's hand. "Humans, apparently, are slightly phobic of being observed in their intimacy."

"How interesting," the Doctor said, musing about the oddities of his preferred companion species. "Then again, Gallifreyans can be very shy about such matters inside the cities, so it makes for a few conclusions on cultural..."

" _Doctor!_ " Tegan interjected. "It's plain difficult to stay in the mood between knowing we are being watched and then you stumbling in here spouting science babble about us and you and ..."

"Ahh." He shrugged. "Well, carry on." He walked toward his favorite bench, leaving the two of them perplexed. He tipped his hat down over his eyes, having brought it just for the express purpose of a nap.

Hushed whispers were easy to ignore, but when it grew quiet, he shifted enough to peer out under the hat. What he saw was rather alarming, or so he had learned, for when two women joined forces, only a fool ignored them. And though he could be foolish about some things, seeing them both walk toward him made him shift the hat fully back in preparation.

"Doctor," Nyssa began, settling gracefully on one side of him. "Tegan..."

"...is very much a barbaric human of my century," the woman said for herself. "I was raised thinking that you only dated boys if you were a girl. So having the TARDIS aware of ... Nyssa and I..."

"She is not of that time period or culture. I'll be so wonderfully pleased when I acquire someone from Zoe's time again, or even later, when things are simpler because humans stopped complicating them," he told her. "If you two are happy and not hurting anyone, do it."

Tegan settled on the other side of him, looking troubled still. "It's not that easy for me."

"Why not?"

"Because we know the TARDIS and you are in tighter communion than you let on," Tegan blurted.

"And we wondered if she watched us because you... had an interest," Nyssa added hastily, before even she turned a delicate shade of pink.

"Oh." The Doctor cocked his head sideways, then smiled gently at Tegan while reaching for Nyssa's hand. "You both are dear to me. But if I entertain the both of you, that's going to leave me quite tired when Turlough comes calling, wouldn't it?"

The only answer to that was a dropped jaw on Tegan and a small giggle from Nyssa.


End file.
